Steel News

Metal Shipments Rise Sharply in November

17 December 2010 - North American metals service center shipments of steel and aluminum products rose significantly in November, perhaps signaling the beginning of a sturdier recovery for the metals industry, according to the latest Metals Activity Report from the Metals Service Center Institute.

NSSC Markets Second FW Series Stainless Steel

16 December 2010 - Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp. (NSSC) has developed and commercialized NSSC® FW2, a highly corrosion resistant, low-interstitial ferritic stainless steel that follows NSSC FW1 marketed in July this year.

NLMK Upgrades Transformer Steel Production

16 December 2010 - VIZ-Stal LLC, a Yekaterinburg-based subsidiary of NLMK, has successfully completed the construction of eight high-temperature annealing furnaces for transformer steel production. The facilities are expected to be launched in December.

Essar, Kobe Sign MOU to Manufacture AHSS Sheets in India

16 December 2010 - Essar Steel Ltd. and Kobe Steel Ltd. will explore the possibility of establishing a joint venture to design, construct, own, and operate a continuous annealing line and a continuous galvanizing line for galvannealed steel sheets used in automotive and other relevant applications.

ArcelorMittal Buys Call Options, Sells Treasury Shares

16 December 2010 - ArcelorMittal has acquired euro-denominated call options on 61,728,395 of its own shares with a strike price of EUR 20.25 per share, and sold 26.48 million treasury shares through an over-the-counter block trade for a price of EUR 26.4227 per share.

Tata Steel Receives National Energy Conservation Award 2010

15 December 2010 - Tata Steel has received the National Energy Conservation Award 2010 under the integrated steel sector category. The company was evaluated on the basis of energy conservation measures implemented during 2009-10 as well as its future plans.

Outokumpu Anticipates Weaker-Than-Expected Fourth Quarter 2010

15 December 2010 - Based on the first two months’ financial performance, Outokumpu expects its fourth quarter 2010 to be weaker than indicated in the third quarter interim report. The Q4 underlying operational result is now expected to be clearly negative instead of around breakeven.

Sandvik Appoints New President and CEO

15 December 2010 - Sandvik’s Board of Directors has appointed Olof Faxander as the new President and CEO effective February 1, 2011. Faxander will succeed Lars Pettersson, who is leaving after nine years as CEO.

SSAB Appoints New CEO

15 December 2010 - Martin Lindqvist has been appointed as the new CEO of SSAB. Currently the head of the company’s largest business area, SSAB EMEA, Lindqvist will succeed Olof Faxander on January 1, 2011. Faxander will become the new CEO of Sandvik AB.

Posco Registers Afforestation Business with UN

13 December 2010 - Posco registered the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) business with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to earn carbon credits through the Uruguay local afforestation. For this project, Posco Uruguay was established in February 2009.

Rio Tinto Sponsors 2010 Human Rights Medal

13 December 2010 - Rio Tinto was the sponsor of the 2010 Human Rights Medal awarded in Sydney to coincide with International Human Rights Day. The medal—awarded by the Australian Human Rights Commission—recognizes the outstanding contributions by an individual for the protection and promotion of human rights, social justices, and equality in Australia.

Severstal, NMDC Sign MOU for Joint Venture Plant in India

13 December 2010 - OAO Severstal and NMDC Ltd., a Navratna Public Sector Undertaking under the Government of India, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a joint venture company to build an integrated steel plant with a capacity between 2 and 5 million tonnes per annum in Karnataka, India.

Harsco Formalizes Joint Venture Agreement in China with TISCO

10 December 2010 - Harsco Corp. and Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co, Ltd. (TISCO) have established a new 25-year joint venture relationship that will address the environmentally beneficial processing and metal recovery of TISCO's stainless and carbon steel slag production byproducts across a range of potential commercial applications.

Severstal Mourns Loss of Board Member

10 December 2010 - OAO Severstal announced the sudden death of Anatoly Kruchinin, member of Severstal’s Board of Directors and deputy CEO of SeverGroup.

Mechel Begins Construction of Complex for Portland Blast-Furnace Slag Cement

10 December 2010 - Mechel OAO has begun construction of thegrinding-mixing complex for Portland blast-furnace slag cement production with 1.6 million tonnes capacity by its subsidiary, Mechel Materials OOO. Construction is on the premises of Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant OAO.

Kobe Steel and Midrex Terminate Agreements with ZincOx

09 December 2010 - Kobe Steel and its wholly owned subsidiary Midrex Technologies have terminated their Alliance Agreement with ZincOx Resources plc.

ArcelorMittal Proceeds with Spin-off of Stainless Steel Business

09 December 2010 - The Board of ArcelorMittal has concluded the assessment of a potential spin-off of the stainless steel business and has decided to proceed with the spin-off. Subject to shareholder approval, shares in the stainless steel business will be distributed in the first quarter of 2011.

Posco-China Recognized for Outreach Activities

08 December 2010 - Posco-China was recently named by Nanfang Daily among 100 foreign companies that significantly contribute in outreach activities in China. The daily newspaper in Guangzhou based its selection on business results, contribution to local communities, and brand image.

ArcelorMittal Foundation Supports Storytellers in Brazil

08 December 2010 - Between August and November 2010, an educational initiative was carried out with the support of the ArcelorMittal Brazil Foundation together with Piracicaba's Offices of Cultural Action and Education. The Foundation sponsored a program aimed at strengthening educators' storytelling abilities as a way to foster classroom interest in reading.

BE Group to Extend Capacity in Construction Steel

08 December 2010 - BE Group announced plans to extend its capacity in construction steel through investment in a state-of-the-art production facility in Kungälv, Sweden.